ATHENS, Ga. – A dominant pitching performance from Longwood's ace came too late as Kent State once again rode the hot bat of MAC Player of the Year Brenna Brownfield to a 9-7 win over Longwood in the finale of the Georgia Classic Sunday morning at Jack Turner Stadium.
 
Playing their fourth game in three days at the Georgia Classic, and second since a 3-2 upset of No. 16 Georgia Saturday morning, the Lancers (1-3) spent most of Sunday's game chipping away at a seven-run deficit after Brownfield powered an early surge that gave the Golden Flashes a 9-2 lead by the end of the second inning.
 
After that rally, Longwood senior ace Sydney Backstrom came out of the bullpen to shut out Kent State (2-1) over the final five innings, but the deficit proved too much to overcome even as Longwood plated runs in four straight frames and put the tying run on base in the bottom of the seventh.
 
Kent State reliever Jessica LeBeau finally silenced the comeback-minded Lancers in the bottom of the seventh, stranding Longwood veterans Kasey Carr and Destiny Martinez on base with a game-ending strikeout that capped her five-out save.
 
"I was pleased to see our fight and our ability to put ourselves in a position to win it in the seventh," said Longwood's first-year head coach Dr. Megan Brown. "We have many lessons from this weekend, and I'm excited about where our team can go as we continue to grow and learn."
 
In escaping the seventh-inning jam, LeBeau shut down a Longwood rally made possible by Backstrom's dominance out of the bullpen and a methodical erosion of Kent State's lead. Longwood scored in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings thanks to production from the middle of the lineup that included a pair of multi-RBI days and a combined five hits from juniors Alexis Wayland and Sydney Jacobsen.
 
However, Brownfield's early RBI knocks stood to the final out, giving Kent State its second straight win over the Lancers and Brownfield four RBI in the two-game series. For Brownfield, those early knocks came on the heels of her game-winning, sixth-inning home run in Kent State's 2-1 win over the Lancers Saturday night that erased what was shaping up to be a gem of a start from Backstrom.
 
After getting shut out by Backstrom through the first five innings of their comeback win Saturday evening, the Golden Flashes wasted no time getting on the board Sunday morning. A two-time All-MAC selection and career .352 hitter, Brownfield jumpstarted that early rally with an RBI double in the first inning and an RBI single in the second as part of a 2-for-5 day at the plate.
 
All nine of those runs came in the first two frames and prompted first-year Longwood head coach Dr. Megan Brown to call on her workhorse Backstrom, who righted the ship by blanking Kent State the rest of the way and retired Brownfield with runners on base in each of her final three at bats. Backstrom allowed just one hit after the second inning, struck out four and was charged with just one earned run in her 4.1 innings of relief work.
 
With Backstrom holding Kent State's offense in check, Longwood began to chip away at the 9-2 lead with runs in the third and fourth. Wayland played a role in both of those scoring sequences, opening the third-inning with a leadoff single and later driving home newly minted leadoff batter Mason Basdikis with an RBI single in the fifth.
 
Wayland's fellow junior Sydney Jacobsen kept the really going with an RBI triple during a two-run sixth inning, sending the Lancers into the seventh with a two-run deficit. Down to their final three outs, the Lancers mounted another rally when Carr reached on an error and Martinez drew a two-out walk but LeBeau regrouped to strike out Wayland with both runners on base to end the threat.
 
With the first of its three non-conference tournaments now in the books, the Lancers will now prepare for the five-team Gamecock Invitational hosted by South Carolina this Friday through Sunday. The Lancers will face Seton Hall and South Carolina on both Friday and Saturday before finishing the three-day event with a doubleheader against Charlotte and Western Carolina.
 
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